Middlesbrough v. Manchester United - Preview


Bring On 'Boro
By David Hobbs
October 29 2005

Manchester United's senior side will be looking to emulate the young side that comprehensively beat Barnet in the Carling Cup earlier this week at Middlesbrough on Saturday evening.

Ruud van Nistelrooy has reiterated his intentions to stay at Old Trafford despite tempting links to La Liga giants Barcelona and Real


Middlesbrough v. Manchester United
Barclays Premier League
Riverside Stadium
29th October, 2005

Manchester United's senior side will be looking to emulate the young side that comprehensively beat Barnet in the Carling Cup earlier this week at Middlesbrough on Saturday evening.

Middlesbrough have been two different sides this season in the Premiership - a side that beat Arsenal and a side that lost to Sunderland - and will be looking to pick up form with a win against the Red Devils.

Striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink acknowledges Boro, 12th in the league, have made a patchy start but look to get the season properly underway on Saturday. The Dutchman said: "We haven't started yet, we haven't seen the proper Boro yet and we have not seen the best of our players.

"But I don't think there is a huge need for concern. The future looks bright for this club, two years ago we were not in this position.

"We are competing in four competitions now and the club is going in the right direction. We haven't had the start we wanted but there are still 28 matches to go, plus whatever we can achieve in the cups."

Team-mate Emanuel Pogatetz agrees with Hasselbaink, claiming Boro need to win back their home crowd. "We need to win the crowd back and I can promise that we will fight for every last centimetre and hope we can get a good result against Manchester United," said the Austrian.

The game sees Steve McClaren once again face the side he used to coach with Sir Alex Ferguson before departing for the Riverside.

Team News:

Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Louis Saha, Gabriel Heinze and Quinton Fortune are United's absentees while Wes Brown and Kieran Richardson return to action.

Meanwhile, Louis Saha could be back in action soon after Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed the Frenchman's recent hamstring injury isn't as nasty as first thought, explaining: "The good news is that there wasn't a tear in the hamstring at all. There was a little bit of fluid but it is nothing serious. He's back in training - not the football part - doing running. We're not going to push him though."

ManUtdWeb Prediction:
 Middlesbrough have everything to prove in this game but United should come out on top. 1-0 United.

David Hobbs - Webmaster
[david@manutdweb.com]